A Protector's Soul
by WizardsGirl
Summary: Harry was content to be in the background, a Weapon without a Meister, a Reject, working his way through the DWMA as someone completely unnoticeable... And then he found someone who needed help and, well... He DOES have that Hero Complex! Mash-up, NO MAGIC minus Anime-Cannon Witches. T for Safety... Feel free to ask questions in Reviews, they'll be answered in the Q&A.
1. A Protector's Soul

**A/N:** I HAVE NOT ABANDONED ANYTHING AND CURRENTLY HAVE WRITERS BLOCK ON WSI SO I'M TRYING TO WORK THROUGH IT.

DON'T BOMBARD ME WITH REQUESTS TO UPDATE PLEASE AS I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF MOVING STATES AND SO AM STRESSED.

THE ONLY REASON THIS IS BEING POSTED AT ALL IS BECAUSE I COULDN'T STOP ONCE I STARTED AND YEAH.

STUFF.

(On to another thing…)

First attempt at this sort of x-over (Anime sort of sucked me in) and I noticed there weren't any others like this in the genre, so here's my own twist to a HP/SE x-over~!

ENJOY~!

**Prologue**

Harry had grown up being belittled and cursed and starved of both food and positive attention by his mother's sister's family in Death City. By the time he was old enough to enroll in the Death Meister Weapon Academy, he had gotten used to being back in the shadows, to never standing out, because doing so would only be worse for him. As a Weapon, however, this was _not_ something most young Meisters, looking to create a Death Scythe, to _stand out_, wanted. His cousin, Dudley, a large, mace-like Weapon, was immediately partnered with his long-time friend, Piers Polkis, who, while a reedy looking Meister knew Dudley well and was of an equally blunt mindset.

Harry spent years at DMWA as a wraith, hidden away and unimportant, average in his ways while others rose and fell, quietly completing his work and missions.

Until the day he found an Upperclassman Meister trying to bully a first year Weapon into seeing to his "personal needs", despite her terrified, and angry, denials.

It was only then that Harry stood out at all, because, despite his meekness, his wallflower tendencies, there was one thing inside of him that could be riled to the point of violence with relative ease.

And that was his Protector's Soul.

**Chapter One: A Protector's Soul**

_**The Wallflower Has Thorns?**_

"I said no!" A young girl's voice cried out, a mixture of angry and scared, making the short, lithe male who had been turning down that hallway pause, blinking bright green eyes behind bottle-lens glasses blink and lift from the floor, pushing chin-length black hair out of his face. A young first-year Weapon, no more than twelve or thirteen, with short brown hair and tearful gray eyes, was trying to desperately pull her wrist from the hold of an Upperclassman Meister, his own Weapon lounging nonchalantly farther down the hall, keeping an eye out for teachers.

"Aw, come on, cutie, I'll make it so _good_ for you," the Upperclassman leered, before trying to kiss the girl, who struggled harder.

"I said no, you creep!" The girl shouted, before she lashed out at his face with her free hand, the length of her arm turning into fist-sized steel ball on the end of a chain. The steel ball collided with the Meister's face with a nasty _thunk_, sending him staggering and forcing him to let go of her arm. She backed up immediately; nervously watching him as his Weapon swiftly joined him with a thunderous look.

"You little _bitch_," the Meister snarled, and the observing teen narrowed his green eyes and stepped forward, out of the shadows.

"That's enough," he said quietly, his slightly-hoarse voice cutting though the tension in the hallway. The girl looked over at him in fearful hope, and he pushed his glasses quietly back up the bridge of his nose. The Meister sneered viciously at him.

"What are you going to do about it, weakling?" He demanded, sneering cruelly. "You're just a Weapon without a Meister, and one that's never seen true battle, either! Izo and I could kick your ass blindfolded!" The black-haired teen didn't twitch, staring at him with hardness in his eyes that had never been there before.

"Then you wouldn't mind making it an official fight, would you?" He asked coolly. "You know, with a teacher to referee and everything, not this pathetic hallway bullying." The Meister snarled, before straightening with a smirk.

"Of course not, Reject. Why don't you send your little cunt out to get one right now, and we'll settle this like men, hmm?" The teen shifted one shoulder up in acquiescence and gently gripped the girl's shoulder, pulling her farther away from the Upperclassmen.

"What's your name?" he asked her softly.

"Ruri," she muttered, glancing back and forth between him and the Upperclassmen.

"Well, Ruri, could you go and get Dr. Stein and ask him to referee this fight at the front of the school? Tell him Harry Potter requests him, personally," the teen murmured kindly, smiling down at her gently as she nervously nodded. "Thank you." Immediately, the girl set off, and Harry soon found himself standing outside the doors to the DMWA, facing the Upperclassmen, with the newest Staff member, Doctor Franken Stein and a crowd of curious students.

"Let's get this started, then," Dr. Stein said in his unconcerned way, absently turning the large screw stuck in his head, green eyes bored behind his glasses, pale blond hair ruffling in the breeze and exposing the stitches holding his face together. "The fight between Second Class Meister-Weapon Team Arashi and Izo and Second Class Weapon Harry Potter, Begin."

"Izo!" Arashi barked; with a nod, the Weapon transformed in a flash of light, turning into a long, wicked Pike, serrated blade gleaming blue-green at the end of a deep red staff. Arashi spun his partner expertly above his head, smirking. Harry lowered his head slightly, watching the two over the rim of his glasses, before relaxing his firm grip on his Soul Wavelengths, becoming immediately incased in a large sphere of lime green, the top of it spiking up this way and that, mimicking the messiness of his long hair.

"Let's see what you've got, Reject!" Arashi, who did not have the unique ability to see Souls like some Meisters, didn't notice the sudden rise in power around the other student. Harry lifted his head suddenly as Arashi charged with a yell, Izo swinging through the air with deadly accuracy born of long practice. Green eyes flaring brightly, Harry glared.

"Soul Resonance," He intoned sharply, and the sphere around him brightened and grew abruptly, massive strength rising up from within him as he began to nimbly dodge and duck the Meister and his Weapon, until, suddenly, he stilled, body sideways, allowing Izo's blade to slice through the air barely an inch away from in, stopping barely a foot from the ground. Everything stilled, though the watching students couldn't figure out why. All they could see, was Arashi's huge, stunned eyes, and a sliver of Harry's hardened visage.

"Yield," Harry intoned coldly, quietly. A tremor shot through Arashi's body, his teeth gritting furiously.

"You bastard," he hissed, even as his Weapon confusedly called his name, demanding action.

"Yield," Harry repeated, eyes narrowing, "or you won't have anything to threaten young girls with again." It was only then that the observers noticed that one of Harry's hands had transformed into a thin, sharp blade, and was pressed through the clothing of Arashi's pants, right at the groin, and undoubtedly pinching the flesh hidden from view. When Arashi remained stubbornly silent, Harry shifted ever-so-slightly, and the Meister yelped sharply and started to jerk back, only to find himself held in place by the front of his shirt.

"_Yield_," Harry demanded harshly, and observers noticed blood beginning to spot the Upperclassman's pants front.

"I yield, alright!" Arashi shouted, voice a few octaves higher than usual. Immediately, Harry released him and stepped back, lifting his hands into the air, returning the blade to flesh, dropping the Soul Resonance and returning the controlled hold he usually had on his Soul Wavelengths.

"I hope this experience has taught you a lesson, Arashi-sempai," he announced calmly, clearly, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "When young women turn you down, you _do not __**force**_ their compliance." He shifted his green eyes to meet Dr. Steins, before giving the Upperclassmen a nod and turning to walk away. Arashi snarled, silently gnashing his teeth.

"You cocky little _fuck_," he snarled, before lashing out with the still-transformed Izo, aiming for Harry's unprotected back.

"Harry-sempai!" Ruri's voice shouted out, to no avail as the blade struck-

And hit nothing, Harry's body disappearing into wisps of shadow.

"Wha?" Nearly everyone exclaimed; Arashi blinked stupidly for a few seconds, gawping at the space that the Weapon had been standing, just moments before.

"_What the Hell?"_ Izo's voice echoed from the Pike.

"Kill one man, you are an assassin," Harry's voice drifted through the air, coming from all directions, as difficult to pinpoint as catching the wind.

"What the-! Where are you, you little shit?!" Arashi shouted, spinning around aggressively, trying to find the illusive teen.

"Kill millions, you are a conqueror." The disembodied voice continued coldly. There was a flicker at the corner of Arashi's eye, and he whirled, eyes huge and chest heaving, thoroughly unnerved.

"Kill _everyone_," Harry's voice whispered harshly, dragging through the air like nails on a chalkboard, raising the hair on everyone's necks and arms, "and you are a _god_."

"I can't pinpoint his Soul!" A blond Meister standing next to Dr. Stein with a white-haired, shark-toothed Weapon, breathed as the crowd watched Arashi thoroughly deteriorate into panic, lashing out around himself wildly, wielding his Weapon more like a club than a Pike.

"It's alright, Maka," Stein told her, eyes half-lidded as he watched the panicking Meister. "Mr. Potter is a unique specimen. His self-control is a thing of genius, mastered to the degree that he can hide even from the strongest of sensors. If he had any true ambition to rise above the crowds, he could have very well been a Death Scythe already." Maka and her Weapon both gave Stein startled, disbelieving looks.

"So, this guy's really strong, right?" A short, spiky blue-haired Meister asked with a sharp grin, the star-shaped mark on his right shoulder pale compared to his dark skin. The tall, mature Weapon standing a bit behind him, her long black hair in a high ponytail, with a yellow star sewed onto the right breast of her pale yellow outfit, shifted slightly in anxiety, blue eyes concerned yet curious.

"In a way, he is stronger than even me," Stein told them in his calm, factual way, stunning the four.

"But, then why…?" Maka asked softly, only to be interrupted as Harry's voice once again spoke.

"Feel the kiss of the Mercygiver," he intoned, and, suddenly, he was _there_, rising up from Arashi's shadow, eyes hidden by his hair, hand once more that long, narrow blade, which he slid straight through the older boy's shoulder like a warm knife through butter, making blood spew forth in a red fountain, and Arashi give a short, aborted scream of terror and pain, before Harry's free arm slammed into the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. Immediately, Izo transformed back into his human form, crying out his Meister's name, as Harry shifted his hand back and started walking towards Dr. Stein. He stopped next to the eccentric Meister, ignoring the wide-eyed curiosity of the other students.

"I never took you for having a flare in dramatics, Mr. Potter," the Meister commented in his dry way; Harry tilted his head slightly, the bright green of his eye showing clearly past the side of his glasses.

"Oh?" was all he said; Steins lips curled up slightly in a faint smile.

"You could have ended this at the beginning; you didn't even have to release your Soul Restraints to do it." Harry didn't say anything, tilting his head back and staring upwards, face calm and relaxed as he took in the mockingly-laughing sun high above them. After a few moments, he finally spoke.

"Someone once said, _staying quiet doesn't mean I have nothing to say, it means I don't think you are ready to hear my thoughts_." He continued to stare upwards for a few moments, before turning and giving the teacher a small smile, green eyes warm. "Maybe it's time to start making noise, hmm?" He shook his head slightly, still smiling, before walking away. "See you in class, Dr. Stein," he called over his shoulder, hands in his pockets as he strode away, Ruri soon attaching to his side like a limpet, recounting the entirety of the fight excitedly, like he hadn't been there at all.

'_That boy,'_ Stein thought, an edge of fondness coiling around the thought. _'What a strange, strange boy.'_ And, as he sent his students back inside, and Sid lifted the unconscious Meister who would be expelled at the end of the day for Sexual Harassment and Attempted Sexual Assault, the good Doctor couldn't help but wonder, what it would be like to dissect a boy like Harry Potter…

Ah, well.

Maybe some other time…

**A/N:** And there you go. This is a TRIAL RUN, so I may/may not update this in a long while. It just got in my head and got stuck there. The Timeline is maybe a week after Kid joins the Academy (he was on assignment during this chapter. Deal with it).

**Harry's Weapon Form:** A Mercygiver, which was a long, thin blade used in Medieval times to provide "Mercy kills" on the field. It was thin enough and long enough to fit through the narrow slats on a downed Knight's armor, giving them quick deaths. If I continue this fic, any forms he manages to gain will follow along that line, an exception being one defensive form.

**Ruri's Weapon Form:** I don't remember the name right now, but I think they're called Hobblers or something. Two heavy balls at each end of a long chain, spun over the users head and thrown, to wrap around the enemy's legs/arms/head, knocking them to the ground and restraining them or killing them (depending on where they're hit).

R&R~!


	2. Wavelength Fluctuation

**A/N:** Popular demand and my Muse call for another chapter on this. A part of me is very, VERY happy, and it is a very LARGE part…

HOWEVER, there is another part of me that despairs the time when my Muse runs away and hides from me…

Ah, well, until then, at least, please review!

**Q&A!**

**Q: Will Harry go to Hogwarts?**

A: No. This is a Mash-up, so you'll maybe see HP Characters running about in the SE world, but not the other way around (Or, at least, that's the case for THIS Mash-up). For all purposes, Hogwarts does not, and never did, exist in this dimension.

**Q:** **Will Harry get a Meister?**

A: Honestly? I don't know. You guys should know that I don't actually plot out my stories, like, _at all_. I MENTALLY picture, like, THREE SCENES that are randomly placed in every one of my fics, and then try to write a story around them, half the time not even going near the scenes I actually wanted to use.

So, what happens next is purely between my Muse and Computer.

**Q: Pairings?**

A: Right now it's Gen, but, as I said before, who knows? I'll put a warning up if that changes, okay?

**Q:** **Wouldn't it make more sense that Lily was the first Weapon in the family and Petunia was jealous?**

A: Honestly, if anything James was a Weapon (cough_tool_cough) and Lily would have been a Meister "Just like Mummy" or something. But, yeah, and I picture Lily just being a really successful, strong, smart Meister, like a grown-up redheaded version of Maka only without the Daddy/Men Issues and less insecure, you know? So, there we go! Interesting question, though~

**Special Thanks To **_**Stelle600**_** For Informing Me Of Some Spelling Errors, And To Everyone Who's Informed Me That Ruri's Weapon Name Is A Bolos/Bolas**

_**THANK YOU GUYS!**_

…

**ALSO, I apologize! I JUST REALIZED that I'd been putting DMWA when it's DWMA (Though, Death Meisters Weapon Academy sounds better than Death Weapon Meister Academy, but w/e)**

**Chapter Two: Wavelength Fluctuation**

_**A Flower That Blooms in Adversity?**_

"No," Harry said calmly, not even lifting his eyes from his book to give the annoying Meister his full attention.

"What?! Why not?!" The annoying boy demanded; Harry sighed and turned the page.

"I don't want a partner at this point in time and, besides that, your fighting style wouldn't fit my Weapon-type and your Soul shows that you're an arrogant little brat, and I feel the need to poke you with a stick to keep my distance. Now, _goodbye_." With that, the Meisterless Weapon closed his book, a finger keeping his place, before getting up and leaving to, hopefully, find somewhere else he could study in peace. As he walked, Harry couldn't help but sigh mournfully, remembering his old anonymity, which he had successfully thrown away without thinking about it thoroughly. After he'd effectively shown that he could fight without a Meister, and _why_ he'd gotten promoted to a Second Class Weapon _despite_ being partnerless, he had been getting Weapon Requests from every two-bit Meister who thought they could deal with him, a majority of whom had had horribly greedy, disturbing Souls that made Harry's Soul Senses shudder and cringe.

Ruri, at least, had gotten herself a decent Meister after her affiliation with the older Weapon. Tomoki was a kind boy, a little shy, but polite and level-headed, and _calm_, which was what the talkative, excitable Bolas needed. Since they'd partnered up, Tomoki had somehow managed to get Ruri interested in studying, at least for exams, though for the life of him, Harry had no idea _how_.

"Hey!" Someone shouted, and Harry blinked as he suddenly found himself nose-to-pointed-finger with a Meister that was actually a few inches shorter than him, meaning either someone had it worse off than him, or it was one of the younger members of the Academy. Blinking, Harry pushed his glasses back up his nose and stared at the blue-haired Meister grinning up at him eagerly, eyes bright, and the white-haired, shark-toothed Weapon next to him who was smirking.

"…Can I help you?" Harry asked, bemused.

"Ha! Of course you'd like to help a BIG guy like me, seeing as how you're so puny! But I'm a star so of course I need to help you little guys out every once in a while in realizing how awesomely powerful I am, so let's fight so you can see just why I'm more powerful than the gods!" The blue Meister declared animatedly, grinning with fierce confidence while the Weapon (not _this_ Meisters Weapon, there was no residue of the other on his Soul, no past Resonance that Harry could "see"…) smirked, showing off his intimidating teeth.

"It would be cool to spar with an Upperclassman and win, yeah?" He drawled, still smirking; Harry blinked, before wrinkling his brows. The three stared at each other for several minutes of tense silence, the smugly confident looks slowly tightening; the Weapon's red eyes getting wary while the blue-haired Meisters dark green eyes gleamed with determination.

"…Shouldn't you be in class?" Harry finally asked, and blinked as both Meister and Weapon face-faulted from the sudden puncture created in the battle-ready air. They both jumped to their feet, all but foaming at the mouth in anger about it (or, at least, the Meister was. The Weapon was just looking angrily embarrassed), but Harry put a quick stop to that by cuffing them both upside the head with his book, frowning sternly as they both yelped. "As your Sempai, it's my duty to assist you when it comes to classes. So!" Suddenly, he was moving down the hallway, the two troublemakers dragging behind him, his free hand gripping the backs of both of their shirts firmly even as he re-opened his book and began reading while walking, effectively hiding his small grin. "I shall escort you to class~!"

"He, what the hell do you think you're doing!" The Meister shouted, struggling wildly. "You can't do this to a BIG guy like me! I'll kick your ass!" The Weapon struggled, though not as enthusiastically.

"Dude, not cool!" He complained, barely heard over the continued rants of the Meister. Harry continued to drag the two all the way to Dr. Stein's class, interrupting the man just as he was getting ready to dissect-

"Is that a _shark_?" Harry asked, blinking at the twelve-foot carnivore as it struggled against the large pins and tight ropes pinning it to the table. The light flashed menacingly over Dr. Stein's glasses and sharp smile.

"A Tiger Shark, to be exact, Mr. Potter," the teacher replied; Harry made a thoughtful sound.

"You know those kill more people than the more popular Great White Shark?" He asked absently, pulling the two pests in after him and kicking the door carefully shut.

"Indeed," Stein replied mildly, dragging a bored stare over the Meister and Weapon in Harry's grip, manic grin fading to his usual blank expression. "I see you've met Soul Eater and Black Star." Harry arched an eyebrow.

"Such names kids these days have," he remarked, dropping the two unceremoniously on the floor and closing his book one-handedly with a sharp _snap_. "I wonder what parents take into consideration when naming their children," he wondered, meandering towards the scientist as he twirled his habitual wheeled chair about to sit in it backwards, arms folded across the top as he pushed himself out from behind the dissecting table to stare down at his two students, Harry standing next to him.

"You two are late, again," Stein informed his students blandly, absently adjusting his glasses to eye them. "I'm not even going to bother asking why, seeing as how you most probably went to challenge Mr. Potter to a fight. And so soon after your fight with Kid." Harry frowned faintly at that.

"Why does that name sound familiar?" He wondered out loud, ignoring the disbelieving looks the watching students were shooting him as he used his book to scratch his temple.

"Yoo-hoo~! Mister Weapon Guy! Over here!" A happy girl's voice called loudly; Harry looked over to see a delighted, short haired blond girl waving enthusiastically at him, despite another blond girls exasperated shushing. "Here's Kid! Over here! Look!" she shouted gleefully, pointing across the other blonds chest at a solemn-looking black haired boy in a black suit, with three horizontal white streaks crossing his left bangs, pupil-less topaz eyes watching Harry with consideration. Harry blinked, and then smiled politely.

"Oh, yeah, you're the new students! Well, welcome to DWMA! I'm Harry Potter and, if you have any questions, as your Sempai I will happily do my best to assist you." Harry gave a salute with his book to the boy; who nodded with a slightly surprised look. "That goes for all of you, by the way," the Weapon added, glancing around the room with a small smile. "I am at your service." Almost immediately, a blond-haired girl's hand shot into the air, her green eyes bright with curiosity.

"Potter-Sempai, my name's Maka Albarn, I'm Soul's Meister," she added the last with a small glare to her Weapon, who was slouching sulkily as he and Black Star made their ways to their seats, both shooting Harry their own version of a glare as they did so, red marks on their foreheads from Dr. Stein's punishing flicks. Harry smiled at her.

"It's nice to meet you, Maka-kohai," he told her; Maka blushed faintly but smiled back at him. "What can I help you with?"

"Well," she started. "I can Sense Souls, and, during that fight you had last week with those Upperclassmen, I was watching your Soul Wavelengths, and they just disappeared completely when you did." She was frowning seriously now, looking a bit frustrated and confused. "Dr. Stein said it was a unique ability of yours due to your self-control, and I was just wondering what he meant by that…?" Harry hesitated, glancing over at Stein who had twirled his chair back behind the dissection table, reluctantly putting away tools when he noticed that the shark was almost dead.

"You might as well answer their questions while I clean up," the scientist informed him blandly. "We'll have to work on this dissection tomorrow, seeing as how it needs to recuperate. Or maybe something else," he murmured, tilting his head and eying the weakly twitching fish. "I've heard that Sid can make a good Shark Casserole if provided with the correct materials…"

"Right," Harry replied, deciding discretion was the better part of valor, and turned back to face the students. He took a moment to organize his thoughts, before stealing an extra chair and sitting down, settling his left ankle on his right knee, and his book on his left knee.

"I have an incredibly versatile Soul," he started, wording it all carefully. "In theory, I can match Wavelengths with any Meister, allowing them to use me in a fight as easily as they would their own weapon, excepting body-memory and all that. That means," he hurried to explain as he noticed confused or blank looks in the crowd of faces," that someone who has a large or heavy weapon, would feel off balance, because they'd automatically try and brace for that weight or length, and instead find themselves with a light, short weapon."

"Anyways, due to that versatility, however, I am very sensitive to other Souls, and can, in a sense 'taste' them, the people behind them and their inner selves. This makes choosing a permanent partner for me immensely difficult, because, while my Soul can Resonate with them, I can't really deal with too many negative factors…" He sighed as more confusion flashed over faces. "Okay, so here's an example. I can, easily, be Dr. Stein's Weapon; I can work with him and he me, what with his also adaptable Soul. _However_, and I mean no offence, Doctor, but his detached, scientific, and, well, _dry_ Soul feels awkward and unnerving. So, in a pinch, I can work with him and trust him to know what he's doing, but in a personal relationship, (and I mean partnership, I saw that look) I find him…"

"Lacking, I believe is the word you're looking for, Mr. Potter," Dr. Stein spoke up, but Harry shook his head.

"Oh, no, not at all. _Intimidating_ was what I was thinking of. You're not lacking in any way, really, except in the emotional field and, well, who isn't, in some way now-a-days?" Harry stated, shrugging at the arched eyebrow that gained him.

"What's that have to do with your disappearing act?" Soul asked, slouching in his chair and watching Harry with his red eyes.

"I was getting to that, Soul-kohai," Harry chastised lightly. "Anyways, due to the particular twist on my Soul Sensitivity, I found early on that I needed to restrain my Wavelengths, to pull them in tight so they didn't reach out an inadvertently… _harass_ others Souls, or be harassed. So, I trained and self-taught myself Soul Restraint, before taking it a step further, once I realized the tactical value of such a thing. Combining that with my natural ability to go unnoticed, and I had myself an ability that allowed me to hide in plain sight, invisible to both the naked eye and the Spiritual, thanks to the control over my Wavelengths and their fluctuation." He smiled at them all, and then focused on Maka. "Did that explain it well enough, Maka-kohai?" He asked gently; she nodded thoughtfully, obviously thinking over everything.

"Can anyone learn Soul Restraint?" Kid asked clearly; Harry turned towards him, lips pursed thoughtfully.

"Well, I suppose they could, if they were dedicated enough," he admitted with a contemplative hum. "Becoming completely invisible like I can, however, requires specific skills that few can learn and even fewer possess."

"Why's that, Sempai?" A boy with swirly glasses and a strange hair-do asked; Harry blinked.

"Well, because for the short amount of time I'm invisible, I do not really _exist_. I remove my body from this Plane of Existence, into what's essentially the Fourth Dimension. Theoretically, I could take others with me, but they would be in no condition to do much of anything once returned. My Wavelength Fluctuation technique protects me and, more importantly, my Soul, allowing me to be mostly unharmed from the Dimensional Gap."

"Mostly?" This came from Dr. Stein, who was now staring at Harry with a rather intense expression, carefully adjusting his Screw, light glinting off of his large glasses.

"Er, yeah," Harry replied, a little unnerved by the sudden scrutiny from the Mad Meister. "I tend to get lethargic and nauseous, though it's a vast improvement from when I was younger, which usually ended with internal bleeding and torn ligaments." Several eager students blanched at that, their plans of learning the technique abruptly tempered with the threat of horrible and perhaps permanent injury. "It's safe to say that I spent an absurd amount of time in the infirmary… Actually, I still do!" Harry laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled at the other students.

"Why would you do that to yourself?" The long-haired blond Weapon sitting next to Kid asked, looking appalled. Harry grew serious and slightly solemn, lowering his eyes slightly to stare pensively at the ground. After a few minute, he lifted his gaze.

"Victor Hugo once said: _Adversity makes men; prosperity makes monsters_," he started slowly, quietly. "I had a difficult life growing up, living with my Aunt and her family after my parents died hunting a Witch when I was a baby. My relatives are, well, _prosperous_, if you get my meaning, and all I wanted to do was stay out of sight and out of mind, so becoming invisible, being _safe_, was something that was worth any cost, growing up. And now, it's something I use while finishing my missions. As a result, I have a very high success rate, and a very low mission-related injury rate… Though," he added with a suddenly sheepish grin, "I can be found in the infirmary at least twice a month for some reason or another. I tend to get caught up in stuff and, well…" He laughed and embarrassedly rubbed the back of his neck, still smiling sheepishly as students laughed.

"If that's all the questions you have for Mr. Potter," Stein announced from his desk, the shark and dissecting tools having seemingly disappeared while they were all distracted, "classes are about to end." As if on cue, the End-of-Day bell rang loudly, and everyone started putting things away, chattering together excitedly as they did so.

"Potter-sempai!" Maka called as Harry started to leave, running up to him with Soul, Black Star, a black-haired Weapon, Kid, and the two blond Weapons following behind her. "Would you like to come to dinner with us?" Maka asked with a warm, hopeful smile. "We're going out to eat tonight, and wouldn't mind your company." Harry blinked and looked them all over, before giving a small smile.

"I wouldn't mind that," he agreed amiably. "It means I don't have to cook tonight!" He laughed, and Maka joined him, before they all left, rapid-fire introductions mixing with several different conversations, filling the air with laughter and chatter as they walked together.

**A/N:** There you go, another chapter, as requested. Sorry if this got confusing or anything (I have an unhappy feeling I've made Harry inconsistent, but I know that he's got a bit of a personality swap thing that he needs, due to his Soul Versatility… Still, unhappy with that…)

**R&R~**


	3. Trust

**A/N:** Should probably take this off of the Trial Fic List, but…

I'm suspicious of my Muse…

Yeah…

**Q&A!**

**Q: Has Ruri been made into a minor character now?**

A: Ruri isn't a minor character, but she isn't a _main_ character. She's more like a supporting, secondary character. She'll be in and out, sometimes a more important character, sometimes just a mentioned character like in the previous character.

**Q: What about Ron and Hermione?**

A: Oh, they'll be around… ;)

**Q: What Weapon does Petunia turn into?**

A: Funnily enough, I picture her as a Crossbow. And, before anyone asks, Vernon is also a Weapon, a large metal mallet to be precise. Petunia and Lily's mother was a Meister, but Petunia's father, a Longbow Weapon, abandoned them or died not long after Petunia's birth, and so Lily's father, another Meister like their mother, was an always despised figure, though Petunia adored her little sister until her eleventh year, when, in my Mash-up Headcannon, it became obvious she was a Meister and not a Weapon, thus beginning the resentment that lasts even today~!

**Special Thanks to **_**Raidentensho**_ **for their Wonderful Review and Weapon suggestion for Harry's later forms, with decent explanation!**

**Chapter Three: Trust**

_**Ruri and Tomoki's first Kishin hunt?**_

"Harry Potter?" Sid the Zombie called, sticking his head into the classroom, where Dr. McGonagall was giving a lecture on the different layers of a Soul (Human, Kishin, and Witch, as well as a brief discussion of Animal Souls). The stern, middle-aged Weapon gave him a displeased look, before nodding at Harry.

"I expect the assigned essay by the next class, Mr. Potter," she told him austerely.

"Yes ma'am," he replied.

"All seven thousand words of it," she continued; Harry winced slightly.

"Yes ma'am," he replied resolutely; the teacher nodded primly, and Harry quickly followed the Zombie out into the hallway.

"Man, she's still a hardass, huh?" Sid chuckled, his permanently bared teeth glinting. "She was just like that when I was a student." Harry made a quietly interested sound. "Anyways, I didn't come and get your scrawny hide so we could talk about Dr. McGonagall. Lord Death has an assignment for you."

"A personal assignment?" Harry asked, surprised and curious; Sid nodded, blue skin pulling awkwardly tight around the muscles of his thick neck.

"A babysitting assignment, actually," the Zombie said, snickering at Harry's immediately disappointed look. Harry sighed mournfully as Sid led him through the Guillotine Path into the depths of the Death Room. "Babysitting" was when a Second Class or higher team was given a pair or two of rookies to take out into the Living World and Reap. Most often on lower-level missions, though they were occasionally meant for supervision on a First Class pairs first intermediate mission.

As they finally left the Guillotine Path, Harry found himself being tackled right off his feet, slamming onto his back with a harsh wheeze, vision filled with light brown hair.

"Harry-Sempaiiii~!" Ruri's voice squealed gleefully in his ear, and Harry gingerly patted the younger Weapon on the back, even as Tomoki popped up behind her, purple hair in its usual neat state, blue eyes shyly happy as he smiled slightly down at them.

"Hello, Sempai," he greeted softly as Harry carefully struggled to his feet, Ruri all but hanging from around his neck, much like her Weapon Form.

"Hello, hello, hello~" Sang a happy, higher old guys voice, and Harry abruptly found himself face-to-face with Lord Death's deceptively friendly skull mask, the Shinigami's huge bone-white hand twiddling its fingers in a wave. "Now, Harry-I _can_ call you Harry, yes?-I have decided that, as you have already done such a wonderful job looking out for young Ruri and Tomoki here, that you would be the best to accompany them out on their first hunt for a Kishin Egg~" Death declared cheerfully, floating a bit away to hover before his large Call-Mirror.

"I would be happy to, Lord Death," Harry informed him, carefully maneuvering Ruri until she was clinging to his back in a much-more-comfortable (and proper) piggyback ride.

"What's our mission?" Ruri asked, all but chirruping from her new position, Tomoki settling himself at Harry's side, quietly unwrapping a blue lollipop, as he was want to do whenever nervous or stressed.

"There seems to be a bit of a problem in Cleveland," Death informed them easily. "A Human who's Soul has become a Kishin Egg. He's already killed several people, and seems ready to kill more. Your mission is to find him and stop him, as soon as possible. When you do, his Soul is yours, to start your collection and start you on the path to being a Death Scythe, young Ruri~" Death happily declared, and Ruri cheered.

"We accept the mission, Lord Death," Tomoki said around his sucker; Harry inclined his head.

"Harry, you are to observe and advise only," Death told him cheerfully. "This is their mission, after all! You may interfere only if they are about to die or become badly wounded in the course of the fight, understand?" Harry bobbed his head.

"Don't worry, Lord Death," he calmly said, smiling slightly. "I'll take care of my cute little Kohai."

"Excellent~! Off you go then~!" Death sang, making shooing motions with his large hands, and Harry led Tomoki and carried Ruri away to start on their mission.

"Where should we start looking, Sempai?" Tomoki asked Harry as the three students walked through the dilapidated neighborhood, where the homeless and the drug-addicted and the dregs of society scuttled and scurried and slunk about, trying not to draw attention to themselves yet know everything that was going on as well. Harry paused and looked down at the sidewalk at his feet, taking in the rusty, red-brown puddle-shaped stain on the off-white concrete, pursing his lips in consideration.

"We'll start here," he finally announced, nodding decisively. "Stay close," he ordered, before leading the two of them up onto the roof of the nearest building, one that over looked an alley. "The Torso Murderer hunts vagrants, those who won't be missed if they disappear. He beheads them, and sometimes cuts them in half, disemboweling them. The best place to find him would be here, on his hunting ground. Be prepared for a long wait, though," he cautioned as the two rookies nodded, both serious faced for once, Tomoki resolutely eating another suck and Ruri rubbing her right hands fingertips together again and again, as if rolling something, or working a Worry Stone. Anxiety and nerves and excitement made their Wavelengths spike and twirl and harass Harry's Senses, something he was used to after being the Babysitter of several rookies long before them. He twisted his own Wavelengths in that peculiar way of his, protecting his absurdly sensitive Soul with instinctive prejudice, even as it wanted to reach out and Resonated with the two, desperate for some sort of _connection_ and yet despairing at the flaws that were tasted so heavily in them.

His Soul was an amalgamation of conflictions, he knew. It was sensitive yet withdrawn, curious yet indifferent, attention starved yet rejecting all partners. The only thing it had ever been wholeheartedly aligned on was the need to protect, an uninhibited willingness to sacrifice itself for the life of whomever or whatever it was protecting.

And, at the moment, it was focused on protecting the rookies behind him, and the lost Souls before it.

It was late night, or early morning, when he came. The homeless woman who was straightening the threadbare blankets she'd scrounged didn't even see if coming, when the twisted being that had once been human, attacked from the shadows, huge, serrated, mantis-like scythes swinging in opposite directions, no more than a flash of rust-and-blood stained silver in the sliver of moonlight allowed by the clouds that cloaked the sky. There was a meaty, wet sound as her head separated from her neck, as her navel pulled from her waist, the glistening of intestines gleaming wetly, before they fell apart, spewing sickening liquid and gore that splattered against the ground obscenely, as the old woman's body fell with muffled _thump_'s onto what had been her painstakingly made nest of wool and cotton and newspaper, her spilled blood and viscera staining it irrevocably.

The Murderer slipped from the shadows, eyes locked on the mutilated corpse of his latest victim, the tiny iris a drop of blood in the massive whites of his eyes. His tongue, a long, pointed thing that was more snake than muscle, unspooled from his lipless mouth to slide over the mantis-like scythes that now made up his hands, the wrists mangled and bandaged and bloodstained, just like the rest of him, his emaciated body unnaturally pale, excepting the places where blood and gore had dried in a motley of rotting and decaying colors. His hair, once blond but now the color of ashes and grave-dirt, was long and matted, and the small, white bodies of bloated maggots writhed in the mass of it like ecstatic puppies awaiting their mother's teats so that their gnawing hunger could be satisfied.

As the blue of the dead Human's soul gently relinquished its grasp on what had once been the woman it had inhabited, an unholy rapture curled the Murderer's expression, and he giggled disgustingly as his tongue slowly curled through the air towards its prize, saliva dripping from his mouth to splatter onto the ground with a thick, wet sound, more like mucus than spit at all.

Before the pale, disgusting muscle could touch the world-weary Soul, Ruri came spinning out of the darkness in Weapon Form, the steel chain that connected the heavy lead balls that made up her Bolas slamming into the Murderer's head and sending those heavy spheres spinning, wrapping tightly around the killers' head and making him howl in unholy rage.

"_Now!"_ her voice shouted, and Tomoki appeared out of the darkness, landing on the blood-drenched ground without so much as a grimace.

"Soul Resonance!" He shouted and, from where he crouched above them, Harry's eyebrows shot up in pleasant surprise. As the two rookies matched Wavelengths swiftly and with surprising ease, he couldn't help but be impressed. They'd been partners for less than a month, and to be able to Resonate, when some Second Class pairs had trouble… It was an impressive feat, to say the least.

"Chains of Fate!" Tomoki shouted, throwing a hand out towards Ruri, and, in the glow of their Resonance, a third lead ball, attached to a secondary chain that came from the center of the main one, formed and wrapped securely around the Meister's wrist. With a determined mien, Tomoki gripped it tight and, in a show of surprising strength, used the chain to _throw_ the Torso Murderer down the opposite end of the alley, Ruri unraveling from his head as he flew, only to catch himself before he hit the brick wall at the end, turning his disturbing eyes onto the two with a horrible snarl, baring cracked and rotted teeth.

"Ruri!" Tomoki shouted, already spinning the Weapon swiftly above his head, the Bolas making a soft whistling sound from its speed.

"_Ready!"_ Ruri called; Tomoki pulled his arm back, still spinning with one hand, and the other wrapped firmly around the third lead ball. The Murderer shrieked at them and leapt towards them, scythe-hands reaching, maggots spewing from his hair like a grotesque, writhing rain.

"NOW!" Tomoki bellowed and flung Ruri forward, the secondary chain lengthening as she flew, connected to her Meister through the third lead ball. Murderer shrieked again, a high, bat-like sound that hurt the ears, and zigzagged about the alley, easily avoiding the Bolas, and lunging at the seemingly unprotected Meister.

"_Tomoki!"_ Ruri cried; the boy _just_ managed to get the chain up to catch the downward swing of the Murderer's scythe, sending sparks flying. Unfortunately, he hand no way to defend from the second scythe, and Ruri cried out in fearful horror as it swung towards her Meister's unprotected navel-

Only for sparks to fly once more, as Harry's hand-changed-blade parried the move, before the Weapon lashed out with one sneakered foot, kicking the Murderer in the ribs and lashing out with a sharp pulse of his Wavelength, sending the Murderer flying through the brick wall to their left.

"Good work so far, you two," Harry told them with a short nod as they dropped their Soul Resonance, Ruri returning to her normal Bolas shape, which Tomoki seemed to unconsciously begin spinning, blue eyes warily watching the hole in the wall. "He's an adept at using both of his scythes in joint attacks. If you take out one, the other will work just as well, however, so don't get lulled into a false sense of security or you'll die, understand?

"Yes, Sempai," the Meister replied immediately, quickly echoed by his nervously determined Weapon.

"I'll assist only when necessary," Harry warned. "I'm only meant to supervise, remember. This is your battle." Tomoki only managed a nod before giving a startled yelp as Harry abruptly grabbed him by the scruff and leapt into the air, milliseconds before the Murderer erupted from the wall not five feet from the hole he'd entered with Harry's assistance, his scythes slicing through the air where the two had been standing. Harry immediately released the boy once they landed, and returned swiftly to the roof to watch the remainder of the battle.

Tomoki wasted no time in putting Harry's advice to use, using the lead balls of his Bolas to catch and parry rapid blows, staining his weapon with blood as his fingers were repeatedly cut, making Harry grimace and make a mental note to take the boy immediately to the infirmary after the battle, so that Nurse Medusa (the newest staff member of the Academy) or Nurse Pomfrey could make sure he didn't get Lockjaw or some other unseemly disease.

Tomoki caught the two blades once more, before jerking his head, sending Ruri's head chain straight into the Murderers face, making him shriek and flinch away, something the Meister had counted on, as he used the lead balls of his Weapon to boost himself up and forward, launching into a spin-kick that sent the Murderer bouncing back, only to be hit again and again as Tomoki leapt after him, using his Weapon as a bludgeoning tool instead of a capturing one, the lead balls pulsing with Ruri's Wavelengths, growing in size exponentially, until huge, lead _bowling balls_ slammed repeatedly into their prey, battering him viciously this way and that.

Finally, Tomoki flung one of those balls into the air, until the chain grew taut, and then he yanked the chain down, forcing the large ball to slam into the Murderer's head, splattering gore and bone fragments everywhere. The young teen was gasping heavily, even as Ruri transformed back into her Human form, the two of them watching with wide eyes as the Kishin Egg Soul rose from the already dissipating corpse, a virulent and disturbing red that made Harry's Soul Senses cringe and cause him to fight the urge to vomit, a common enough experience for him. As he watched, Ruri reached forward with faintly trembling fingers, carefully lifting the red Egg to her mouth, before taking a deep breath and gulping it down, looking surprised a moment later.

"It didn't taste horrible!" She said, confused; Harry chuckled, leaping down to clap the two of them affectionately on the back.

"Soul's don't have tastes," he told her fondly. "Just textures. Well done, you two!" He congratulated, before leaving the two to high-five and cheer, returning to the dead woman from before, staring at her still-hovering Soul sadly. "Come on, ma'am," he murmured, reaching out to gently cradle the blue orb, his Senses cuddling it close as he "tasted" all the troubles and joys that had marked the Soul during its existence. "You're time is done here. It's time to go home," he murmured to it gently, before lifting it above his head and pushing it upward gently with his Wavelengths, watching it float about five feet away before dissipating with what seemed like a relieved-sounding sigh. Once that was done, he bowed his head momentarily in respect, before turning to the two rookies with a warm smile.

"Come on, you two," he called affectionately. "Let's get back to Death City and, after reporting, to dinner, my treat!" Ruri cheered exuberantly, and Tomoki gave a happy, if tired, grin.

**A/N:** And there's the end of that!

**The Torso Murder:** also called The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, this is an actual Serial Killer during 1990's who was never caught. Even Eliot Ness, the man responsible for leading the Untouchables against Al Capone, couldn't break the case.

Hope you Liked it~!

**R&R~**


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